Skip to main content

Status of Stella Zakharova Cup still uncertain

By
Photograph of Stella Zakharova, courtesy of the Kiev Times

Amid rising political and military tensions in Ukraine, former Soviet gymnastics champion Stella Zakharova, now a resident of Kiev, is struggling to find government support for her gymnastics competition, the Stella Zakharova Cup, last year supported by a strong field of competitors including teams from Russia, Japan and Brazil as well as the home team.  

The competition is reliant on government support for part of its funding and also for confirmation of the competition dates.  Originally scheduled for March 29th and 30th, the competition was first rescheduled for April but its postponement currently appears indefinite.  Zakharova is complaining that 
Minister of Sport and Youth, Dmitri Bulatov, is ignoring her requests for support and information.  She is conducting a fairly vocal campaign, having appeared recently on Ukrainian radio and in a number of local press reports.  The latest story about this is here - http://thekievtimes.ua/sport/361019-bulatova-obvinili-v-sryve-kubka-stelly-zaxarovoj.html

The status of Ukraine's gymnastics programme has been a cause for concern for some time, with top internationals Nikolai Kuksenkov and Oleg Stepko migrating to Russia and Azerbaijan recently, and rumours that world championships medal contenders Oleg Verniaiev and Igor Radivilov might also remove themselves from their home country's ailing programme.  Both Stepko and Kuksenkov had experienced problems in finding moneys to pay for necessary medical expenses.  Ukraine MAG coach Yuly Kuksenkov has also recently joined the Russian team at Lake Krugloye.  The country's WAG programme has been in crisis for some years.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who really won the WAG All Around?

By
You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...
70 comments
Read more

Is gymnastics still artistic?

By
Such a lot is said about artistry these days - but you don't really see much evidence of it in the gymnastics.   There are flashing moments of brilliance that some people enjoy - for example, a gymnast like Brazil's Flavia Saraiva is a favourite for her spirited and expressive floor and beam.  Others might prefer the structured work of a gymnast like Kyla Ross.  For me, though, the idea of consummate artistry has been lost almost totally - the last time I saw anything like it was in 2012 when Komova performed her floor so brilliantly in the all around final.  But without a mechanism to reward artistry - something that is absent from this Code of Points - there really isn't much point even trying any more. Aliya Mustafina was interviewed recently while on holiday in Italy and expressed the opinion that artistry was something that was inborn, rather than trained.  She uses a metaphor to describe this - some gymnasts have five gears, not four, and the abilit...
36 comments
Read more

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

By
Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but the...
57 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more